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What does while away the hours mean?
What is the difference between 'while away' and 'wile away'?
What does 'wile away' mean?
Why do poets wile away time?
Grammar & Usage Usage Notes. ‘While Away’: When the Hours Just Fly By. Where does the time go? The word while likes to keep busy. It's entered in the dictionary with four parts of speech. The use of 'wile away' has been common enough to merit an entry. The first is a noun: take off your coat and stay for a while.
The phrase employs a now archaic sense of while—namely, to fill up the time. Today, while is used only as a noun or conjunction (except in while away), and because 21st-century English speakers not used to seeing while as a verb, it’s easy to assume that wile away is the correct phrase.
Sep 7, 2011 · The Macquarie dictionary defines ‘while away’ as to cause time to pass, especially in some easy or pleasant manner, so ‘while away’ is correct in this context. ‘Wile’ means to beguile, lure or entice, so to ‘wile away’ could mean something entirely different, but the actual answer is that both are correct. See these examples ...
May 19, 2016 · The expression “while away the time” is the only surviving context for a very old use of “while” as a verb meaning “to spend time.”. Many people substitute “wile,” but to wile people is to lure or trick them into doing something—quite different from simply idling away the time.
to spend time in a relaxed way because you have nothing to do or you are waiting for something else to happen: We whiled away the afternoon playing cards in front of the fire. That's the spot where Sara and I used to while away the hours between lectures. Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples. to spend time doing nothing or very little.
Aug 21, 2014 · “To while away the hours” means to “pass time idly” or to “pass time, especially in some leisurely or pleasant manner.” For example, “I spent hours whiling away on the...
